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Transcript of Extract; Prehistoric Cultures of the Horn of Africa - Clark
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This PDF is a collection of pages from the
book "Prehistoric Cultures of the Horn of
Africa" by J .D. Clark. The pages are
references to 'Harar, Ethiopia. A few extra
pages are included.
10,
12,
218,
227,
296,
298,
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/'/PREHISTORIC CULTURESOF THE
HORN OF AFRICA
An analysis oj the
Stone Age Cultural and Climatic Succession
in the
Somalilands and Eastern Parts oj Abyssinia
With aforeword by
M. C. BURKITT
CAMBRIDGE
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS1954
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List of Plates
List of Text-figures
Foreword by M. C. BURKITT
Preface
Chapter I Physical geography 3
I. Physiographical features 3
II. Solid geology 8
III. Population, rainfall, water supply and vegetation 12
Chapter 2 The work of previous investigators 16
I. Somalia (Italian Somaliland) 16II. British Somaliland 22
III. French Somaliland and the Southern Danakil Rift 26
IV. Collections made by British military personnel, 1941-46 32
THE GENERAL GEOLOGY OF THE SPECIAL AREAS
AND STRATIGRAPHY
Chapter 3 Introduction. Western British Somaliland and the Nogal
Valley 45
Western British Somaliland 45
I. High-level' plateau beds' 45
II. River valley and other alluvial deposits 47
The Nogal valley 63I. The Upper Nogal and Mijertein 63
II. The Lower Nogal 71
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CONTENTS
Chapter 4 The Webi ShebeIi and its tributaries
1. The upper valley
II. The middle valley
III. The lower valley and the' Bur Country'
Chapter 5 The Danakil Rift
I. The earlier volcanic series
II. The earlier sedimentary series
III. The later volcanic series and rift movements
IV. The later sedimentary series
Chapter 6 The North and East Coasts
The North Coast
1. Marine and terrestrial deposits
II. The Bab-el-Mandeb land-bridge
The East Coast
page 78
78
80
17
17
19I I O
122
122
122
129
131
Chapter 7 Correlation of geological deposits, events and cultures within
the Horn 144
Chapter 8 Terminology 155
Chapter 9 The Acheulio-Levalloisian Culture 160
The Levalloisian Culture 170
Chapter 10 The Somaliland Stillbay Culture 190
The Somaliland Magosian Culture and the Magosio/Doian
transitional industries 203
The Hargeisan Culture and derivative industries 218
Chapter I I The Doian Culture 226
1. Introduction 226
II. The type Doian industries 230
III. The strandlooping variant 252
IV. The' Neolithic' variant 254
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CONTENTS
Chapter 12The Somaliland Wilton Culture and its variants.
Conclusions.
The Somaliland Wilton Culture
I. The type Somaliland Wilton
II. The Ogaden variant and derivativesIII. The' Neolithic' variant
IV. The strandlooping variant
V. Mining and factory sites
Conclusions. The end of the Stone Age sequence
Chapter 13 Prehistoric art in the Horn of Africa
page 260
260
260
27277
282
29
292
A TENTATIVE CORRELATION OF CULTURES AND
CLIMATES
Chapter 14 A tentative correlation of cultures and climates in the Horn
with other areas of the African continent and with Southern
Arabia 319
Details of collections (not previously described) made by
civil and military personnel in the Somalilands and
Abyssinia
B. Tool lists for additional Somaliland Magosian Culture sites
C. Tool lists for additional Hargeisan Culture sites
D. Tool lists for additional Doian Culture sites
E. Tool lists for additional Somaliland Wilton Culture sites
F. Report on the faunal remains collected by J. D. Clarkfrom sites in the Somalilands. By D. M. A. Bate
G. List of marine molluscs collected by J. D. Clark fromraised beaches and other sites in the Somalilands. ByL. R. Cox
H. List of charcoals collected by J. D. Clark from prehistoricsites in the Somalilands. By Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
333
356
357
358
360
367
369
xvii, and PI. 29
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PREFACE
exist according to whether the name appears m British, French or Italian
publications or maps. In the case of well known place-names the British spelling
most commonly used at the time that the writer was in the Horn has been
employed, but where these differ from the spellings used in Hunt and Viney's
Gazetteer of British Somaliland and Grazing Areas (1946) the latter spelling
is given in brackets. In the case of sites and places of minor importance visited
by the writer, and of which the positions are clearly fixed though they may not
always appear on the maps, the name has been spelt according to the R.G. II
System. In the case of minor sites recorded by Italian, French or German
authors and which are not marked on any map, it has been found necessary to
retain the spelling used in the original publication.
I am most grateful to a number of colleagues and specialists who have helped
me in a number of ways with their advice and specialist reports. The late Miss
D. M. A. Bate examined and reported on the faunal remains recovered from
excavations in Somaliland (Appendix F) and I am deeply grateful to her for the
help that she gave me. Dr L. R. Cox has kindly examined and identified the
molluscan fauna from raised beaches on the east coast (Appendix G), and
the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, has provided the report on
the charcoals (Appendix H).
I am very greatly obliged to Dr W. A. Macfadyen for the great care that he
has taken to read through the geological part of this book and for the helpful
and detailed criticism and suggestions that he has made. It is indeed a privilege
and a comfort to have one who knows the geology of the Somalilands as he
does to check these chapters especially as I felt at times in the field the lack of
geological assistance very acutely. To Professor F. E. Zeuner also for his deter-
mination of soil and rock samples and suggestions as to their value as indicators
of past climatic change I am most deeply grateful. Also to Dr A. F. Hallimond
for his determmation of an iron slag from the Biede rock-shelter I must express
my thanks.
Count Bjorn von Rosen most kindly made me a gift of a copy of his very fine
book Berget och Solen with his description and photographs of the important
Harar group of painted rock-shelters. I am very grateful to him for allowing me
to reproduce several of his photographs and for his kindness in providing me
with prints to facilitate this.
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INTRODUCTION
Danakil Horst, a triangular mountain ridge (average 3300 ft.) bordered on
the north and east by the Red Sea. The Aussa desert is made up of stony delta
deposits, clays and silts, some of which have yielded human artifacts.!
The Somali Plateau lies to the south-east of its Abyssinian counterpart and,
as can be seen from the inset map (PI. 29), its western edge is determined by thefault-scarp, the plateau here falling steeply almost precipitously to the floor of
the Rift. This feature of the scarp is maintained in the north-west where, at the
junction of the East African and Gulf of Aden fault trends,2 the high mountain
walls bend round to the east, past the Danakil or Aussa trough, and along the
shores of the Gulf of Aden, the plateau in places approaching, particularly to
the east of Berbera, almost to the coast itself.3
Thjlhighest parts of the plateau, apart from the strip of highland marking the
edge of the Gulf of Aden fault-scarp, lie close to its western edge, where theHarar and Arussi-Bale mountains reach average heights of7000 ft., with occa-
sional peaks rising above this to as much as 10,000 ft. or mor:e.4 From this
mountainous region, now within Abyssinian territory and inhabited for the most
part by the agricultural Galla, the plateau slopes very gradually to the east-
south-east to the Indian Ocean, indicating uplift of the plateau along its western
side and gentle tilting about an axis at right angles to this slope.5 The initiation
of the last earth movement along this axis has been deduced by Nilsson to have
taken place during the Last Interpluvial, and to have been completed beforethe end of the first part of the Last PluviaI.6 These western highlands form the
major watershed of the plateau.
Within the Somalilands the plateau falls naturally into three parts divided by
the three great drainage basins of the Nogal, the Webi Shebeli, and the Juba
1 Garesleh Tug, see p. II6. 2 Gregory, J. \V. (1921, p. 31).3 The following Admiralty Charts were examined with a view to ascertaining whether any sub-
marine faults could be recognized on either the north or east coasts. East Coast Charts, nos. 597,
100a, 671, 1\48,6,0. North Coast Charts, nos. 6B, 919, IOob. It was apparent that at a distancevarying from Ito 4 miles from the coast the sea-bed sloped fairly steeply down from 60to 120fathoms
on an average along the north coast. Whether this is the result of submarine faulting or represents
merely the normal continental-slope zone could not be determined. A definite and deep fault is,
however, clearly discernible in the Gulf of Tajura.
4 Mount Kaka 13,232ft.; Chillalo Mountains II,96r ft.
" (i) Nilsson, E. (1940). (ii) Dainelli, Prof. G. (1936, p. 97).
6 Nilsson, E. (1940, p. 42). That some degree of early tilting along this axis must have existed
prior to the formation of the major river systems is evidenced by the general south-east trend of the
latter. Stefanini, Dainelli and others attribute this initial tilting to the fact that the plateau, composed
of successive deposits of sedimentary rocks laid down for the most part in direct stratigraphical
succession following three major periods of marine submergence and subsequent uplift, emerged
evenly but very gently inclined towards the south-east, the strata becoming progressively later in age
from south-west to north-east.
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INTRODUCTION
rivers, the directions of flow being towards the south-east. In the north the
plateau of British Somaliland slopes gently from its northern edge, a strip of
high country known generally as the ago, to the south, and east to the Nogal
depression and the great plains of the Haud.1 This mountain escarpment which
may be considered as an extension of the Harar high plateau, attains averageheights of 6000ft., with a maximum of 7900 ft. at Shimbir Beris in Erigavo
District and forms the main watershed for the streams and rivers flowing north
into the Gulf of Aden, and south-east into the Indian Ocean; it has been affected
by tilting on the south-east axis of a similar nature to that in the west. Over the
northern edge of the Gulf of Aden fault-scarp the terrain falls often pre-
cipitously and abruptly to the coastal plain or to the sea itself. Approximately
two-thirds of the way going eastwards along this coast, however, the scarp is
broken by a broad gap of less elevated country (600-1600 ft.) known as theKarin Gap, formed by northward-throwing faults, and through which at one
time the Darror (or Daror) depression appears to have been drained into the
Gulf of Aden.2 A somewhat similar break occurs in the scarp further to the
west near Las Dureh, known as the Asseh Gap. The eastern corner of the plateau
lying between the Gulf of Aden and the Nogal is known as the M~iertein and
is one of sharp relief characterized by steep, flat-topped, often isolated hills and
plateaux, of which the desolate and waterless Sol Haud (or Sawl Haud) is an
example, and numerous deeply entrenched streams or 'tugs' to give them theirSomali name, which today are almost invariably dry for the greater part of
the year and contain water for a few hours only after rain: they wind through
steep gorges and gullies to the sea.3 These drainage channels have been carved
out of anhydrite beds limited to the north and south by hills of overlying lime-
stones. The central plateau, lying between the Nogal and the Webi Shebeli,
consists of a vast undulating plain known as the Haud, waterless for the most
part but storing water for three or four weeks during the rains in a number of
natural reservoirs known as 'ballehs'. 4 The soil of this plain is of a bright redsandy nature. Much of it is probably derived from the disintegration of the
underlying limestones and sandstone,5 but some is undoubtedly of aeolian origin
1Average altitude for the Ogo is between 5000-6000 ft. Average altitude for the southern Haud
is 1000ft.
2 (i) Hunt, J. A. (1944). (ii) Barrington Brown, C. (1931a, p. 259).3 Such seasonally dry river courses will be referred to by their Somali (Isaak-Darod) name of 'tug'.
In the south various terms are used: 'bohol' (Rahanwein), 'bug' (southern Darod: Hawiyia), etc.
'Webi' means a seasonally flowing river, e.g. the Webi Shebeli, Webi Gestro.4 The 'ballehs' or shallow pans, sometimes artificially enlarged, are of paramount importance to
the Somali tribes who rigidly guard their rights over these water-holes. In the south the term
'balleh' is replaced by 'saha'. 5 Stefanini, G. (1936, p. 83).
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INTRODUCTION
plain becomes gradually more constricted by the encroachment of the plateau
until from just north of Obbia in central Somalia, to Alula, near Cape Guardafui
it occurs only as narrow isolated plains separated by long stretches of the plateau,
which reach to the coast itself. Restricted patches of this coastal plain occur also
along the northern coast, where it is known as the Guban to the Somalis,l butit rarely attains to more than thirty miles in width and is often, as for example
near Berbera and Benda Ziada, divided into two parts by a line of rocky hills,
usually faulted, which run parallel to the coast and the Aden Rift scarp. Only
at the western end of the Gulf does the coastal plain open out once more between
Bulhar and Zeila before joining the Aussa plains of southern Danakil.
The chief feature of this plain on the east coast is a line of consolidated fossil
dunes, on an average from 200 to 400 ft. high but rising at Gowein, inland from
Obbia, to a thousand feet or more, and having a width of from one to eighteenmiles.2 These fossil dunes run parallel to the coast and form an effective barrier
between it and the inland plain beyond. The latter is composed for the most
part of sandy alluvial soil, often attaining considerable depth, but has no con-
spicuous features except in the south where the monotony is broken by numerous
small isolated 'burs'.
SOLID GEOLOGY
Brief mention may now be made of the underlying solid geology as this hascontrolled in varying degree the morphology of the area and the distribution
and availability of man's raw materials.
The crystalline rocks, granites, gneisses and schists, which form the Archaean
basement complex on which the geological superstructure is built up, are nearly
everywhere overlain by more recent sedimentary deposits. They are, however,
found exposed by the faulting and uplift of the plateau at points along the
northern seaboard within the Aden Rift fault, near the base of the scarp, as for
example between Hargeisa and Bulhar, at Mandera between Hargeisa andBerbera, at the foot of the Al hills, at Ras Hantara, and on the Harar plateau,
and again in the south where the coastal peneplain has eroded the overlying
sedimentaries exposing these basement complex rocks which are often covered
by only a few feet of residual and wind-blown sand, while the harder and more
resistant elements rise here and there to form the characteristic' bur' between
the Middle Webi Shebeli and Bardera on the Juba river.3 In these areas, while
chert is still the predominant raw material of prehistoric man, quartz (occurring
1 Swayne, H. G. C. (1895).
~ (i) Stefanini, G. (1936, p. 85). (ii) Artini, E. (1915).
3 (i) Stefanini, G. (1936). (ii) Barrington Brown, C. (1931). (iii) Macfadyen, W. A. (1933).
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INTRODUCTION
reaches of the Webi Shebeli and in the region of the Harar plateau both on its
south side (northern Ogaden) and north side (at the foot of the rift near Dire
Dawa).l
These Jurassic rocks are followed by various Cretaceous deposits along the
middle Webi Shebeli (predominantly the right bank) from Missarole to theShaveli country, into the Ogaden and west again to Arussi where there outcrops
a white or ochreous limestone with a rich fauna (Upper Cretaceous: Giglei lime-
stone). On the left bank of the middle Webi the Cretaceous is represented by
grey and purple sandstones passing into grey, yellow and red quartzites which
contain ferruginous nodules (Jesomma sandstones). These Jesomma sandstones
are correlated with the Nubian sandstones and with rocks of similar age in
Abyssinia, Eritrea and the Hadhramaut. The Marehan sandstones south of the
Juba and in the Northern Frontier District of Kenya are considered to be of thesame age.2 Fossiliferous Cretaceous beds outcrop again along the fault-scarps
in the Northern Frontier District, where limestones, some argillaceous, and
sandstones, sometimes ferruginous, overlie, often conformably, the Jurassic
sediments.3 The Cretaceous series is seen again on the northern plateau in
the area of Hargeisa and in the Marodijeh (or Marodijehh) Tug where the
quartzite from these beds is almost invariably the material used for the larger
stone implements. Chert and chalcedony nodules (highly coloured) and quartz
pebbles from the Cretaceous beds are characteristic and were extensively used,as was also the silicified sandstone found in the middle Webi Shebeli.
The central and northern parts of the plateau are built up of Tertiary sedi-
ments, predominantly of Eocene age, which comprise creamy limestones and
intercalated anhydrite beds, the former yielding a characteristic honey and grey
coloured chert, and the latter light brown and black cherts, which form a very
satisfactory medium for the production of implements and throughout the north
were universally used from Levalloisian times onwards.4 On the southern side
of the upper Nogal valley where the black-banded cherts outcrop within the
1 Dreyfuss, M. (1931).
2 Stefanini, G. (1936, pp. 33,41 and 46).
3 (i) Barrington Brown, C. (1931, p. 263). (ii) Reck, H. & Dietrich, W. O. (1923). (iii) Stefanini,
G. (1')25).
1 Burkitt, M. C. & Barrington Brown, C. (1931, p. 164). Barrington Brown describes the raw
material used on the north-eastern boundary of the Protectorate as follows: 'The material used is
mostly a chert, of a yellowish, honey colour, which patinates to either a white or black tint. This
chert occurs abundantly as large concretions in the Eocene iimestones which form the greater part
of the elevated plateau (at 2000to 3500ft.) constituting a great part of the interior of British Somali-
land. A thick bed of gypsum and anhydrite outcrops over considerable areas on the plateau: no flakes
were found on these areas. It is noticeable that white quartz from veins which outcrop in slates at
the foot of the scarp is utilized to some extent on the coastal plain.'
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INTRODUCTION
again in the Mount Mabla area of French Somaliland,1 and also along the edge
of the escarpment south and east of Dire Dawa.2 These are probably contem-
porary with the plateau traps and basalts mentioned above. More recent acid
lavas and rhyolites are extensively found in Danakil and at points along the Gulf
of Aden coast. They have often a markedly fresh appearance and were examinedby the writer in the Dire Dawa-Aisha section of the Aussa plain.3 Isolated
occurrences are found also along the Gulf of Aden coast, notably at Siyara and
Benda Ziada.4 Obsidian occurs in the Danakil Rift and in the north-west of the
British Somali plateau where this material was extensively used by the makers
of the Late Stone Age Cultures: it is common also on the Harar plateau, in the
upper courses of the Webi Shebeli and is occasionally met with at sites along
the edge of the plateau bordering the Gulf of Aden fault-scarp. Text-figs. I and2
have been drawn to show the main geological features of the Somali Plateauand the predominant raw material used by prehistoric man in each of the main
areas studied: it indicates that with few exceptions man made use of the local
material ready to hand and clearly no difficulty was experienced in adapting this
to his needs.
POPULATION, RAINFALL, WATER SUPPLY
AND VEGETATION
If we are able to accept as true the portrayal of the inhabitants of the Land of
Punt on the bas-reliefs in the Temple of Deir-el- Bahari, 5 then the Horn of Africa
was already inhabited in early historic times by both Hamitic and negroid
peoples. Today we find that the negroid peoples have been, with very few
exceptions, merged with the dominant Hamitic element, or else restricted to
the valleys of the principal rivers. The mountains and highlands on the west
are inhabited by the now agricultural Galla and the pastoral Boran, while in the
central plains, and in fact throughout the Horn proper, the dominant type is
the Somali. The Galla seem to have controlled the whole of the Horn of Africa
since at least the first few centuries of the Christian era, and during the sixteenth
century spread inland to the south and west but subsequently were displaced
by the Somalis pressing down from the north, and the main group of the Galla
were forced inland to their present habitat.
All Somalis are fundamentally pastoralists of migratory habit, owning sheep,
goats and camels, following the rains in search of pasture for their animals, and
1 Teilhard de Chardin, P., Lamare, P., Dreyfuss, M., Lacroix, A. &Base, E. (r930h).e Arsandaux, J. (1905).3 See pp. IIS-ZO.1 Macfadyen, W. A. (r933).
" Naville, E. (1898), Pt. III, PI. LXIX-LXXVI.
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INTRODUCTION
Abbe (174), in the Mana valley, Wilton; Goba (177), one doubtful 'Neolithic'
tranchet.
Further south on the upper Webi Shebeli at Sheik Hussein (178) the Expedi-
tion found Levalloisian implements and near Roukatcha Wells (2 I 9), Levalloisian
and probably Magosian.
Finally, there is a group of sites on the Harar plateau. Kouloubl (226);
Tchalinko (225), in the Ahmar mountains; Dubasso (228); Kourkourron (227);
and Warka (224) where is reported' a rock-shelter with a layer of grey slime
under one of grey clay containing worked flints and a fauna similar to that of
today'.
There is also a group of sites whose exact position is uncertain. These are
mostly situated in the valleys of the Arba, Awash and Shoa rivers and have
yielded obsidian tools with a double patina. Breuil &Kelly attribute them to
the Magosian and early Wilton cultures on typological grounds.!
Briefly, therefore, the industries represented by the du Bourg de Bozas collec-
tion may be summarized as follows:
(a) Acheulio- Levalloisian.
(b ) Levalloisian, Somaliland Stillbay and Magosian.
(c ) Somaliland Wilton.
In 1913 the Stefanini-Paoli Geological and Zoological Expedition collected
a series of twenty-nine stone implements from various parts of southern Somalia
which were figured by Puccioni.2 Typologically they can be referred for the
most part to the Levalloiso-Stillbay Complex and in some instances to the
Somaliland Magosian and Doian. They come from sites at Washaga Guran (102),
four specimens, Middle and Late Stone Age; Bur Erimu, three specimens,
Doian; and El Ure (103), eleven specimens, Stillbay and Doian; Lugh Ferrandi
(100), three specimens, Still bay and Doian; Guretca (Curetca) (99), one specimen,
Stillbay; Allengo (98), three specimens, Doian; and Salagle (94), one core,Levalloisian. The greatest number of implements was provided by El U re,
notable among which is a good example of a small Doian backed blade.
In 1924 Professors Stefanini and Puccioni in a joint geological and anthropo-
logical expedition collected a number of artifacts which were later described and
illustrated by Puccioni.3
1Of the lesser sites, Chekifton and Iddi yielded Stillbay- and Magosian-type material; Fidadaedi
(Fidadedih), ?Wilton; Dallehalle, Magosian and Wilton; Djilohanno, ?Wilton; Karsaalek, Stillbay
and Wilton; Salout (Sullul), Stillbay and ?Wilton; Guiner (Ghimir), Magosian; Habaoule and
Rahahou, atypical material.
2 Puccioni, N. (1919, p. 166). 3 Puccioni, N. (1936, p. 107).
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INTRODUCTION
gravels were heavily patinated and abraded. The implements lying on the Obok
coral became progressively smaller and less patinated as one approached the
sea. Many tools show signs of later re-utilization, for the same purpose as the
original specimen was first made, and indicate that the same industry persisted
over a long period. Tools include Levallois-type points, pressure-flaked points,blades and scrapers of different kinds, while hand-axes are associated with the
earlier, more heavily patinated specimens.
On the north-western edge of the Somali Plateau around Harar (z08) Teilhard
found' Mousterian-type' points and scrapers in obsidian and chert which he
considered were derived in part from the thick deposits of laterite that cover
much of the Harar plateau. In situ in the sections exposed in tributary tugs of
the Errer, notably at Djildgiga implements were found even in the lower levels
of the Pleistocene alluvium and include' Mousterian-type' points, small scrapers,choppers and axes, made from crudely flaked basalt pebbles.
Finally, de Monfried &Teilhard excavated a trial trench in a painted, lime-
stone rock-shelter a few kilometres from Dire Dawa which was named the
Porc-Epic cave (15z). The shelter was about zo m. in depth and width, but a fall
of rock had partially blocked the entrance; the walls were covered with stalac-
tites. Under 30 cm. of ash containing pottery, a further loose deposit was
discovered, 1'70m. thick, which yielded numerous implements of chert and
obsidian, the predominant tools being small triangular points, either workedon the edges only of one side, or all over the one side, or worked over both
faces of the tool. No pottery was found with the industry, and animal bone had
almost entirely decomposed and formed a thick layer of phosphate of lime on
the floor of the cave.1Teilhard considered that the workmanship of the points
suggests that they are fairly recent in date but that the nature of the deposit in
which they were found points rather to their being contemporary with the
Upper Palaeo lithic of Europe. The stylized paintings on the walls of the cave
were studied by Breuil & Wernert and will be discussed later.2
Teilhard de Chard in again visited this area in 1930 in company with Breuil
& Wernert, and further excavations were carried out in the Porc-Epic cave3
(see p. z08). Their findings in French Somaliland 4 have been summarized below
in some detail as they provide valuable corroborative evidence for our own sites
on the Gulf of Aden coast and in the Danakil Rift.
1 Compare the sequence at Pore-Epic with that from the Gure Warbei at Bur Eibe (p. 230), and
from Bur Hakaba (p. 236).
2 See p. 295. 3 Breuil, H., Teilhard de Chardin, P. &Wernart, P. (1951).
4 Teilhard de Chardin, P., Breuil, H. &Wernert, P. (1940, pp. 497-522).
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INTRODUCTION
(Wadelai Delanta and Amba Alagi) have yielded flakes with faceted platforms and small
discoidal prepared cores which indicate the presence of industries of Levalloiso-Stillbay
affinities.
(iv) In 1941 the writer had occasion to examine and collect from two areas in Abyssinia.
One on the edge of the Dabat plateau to the east of Gondar which yielded an industry
showing very close affinities to the Kenya Fauresmith and the Acheulio-Levalloisian1 anda second site at Yavello2 on the southern plateau where two small rock-shelters yielded
cultural material-the first contained a Stillbay industry overlain by one of Wilton affinities,
while the second yielded only a degenerate Wilton and some much-faded paintings of
a schematic nature which were possibly associated.
(v) Graziosi3 records certain additional finds from Abyssinia but in most instances they are
isolated, unrelated surface specimens classifiable only on a typological basis.4
SUMMARY
From this record of evidence of previous investigators it can be seen that while
the actual material is plentiful enough, the necessary stratigraphical evidence is,
in the majority of cases, lacking, by means of which the cultural sequence could
be fitted into the geological and climatic framework, so that any attempt at
establishing the culture sequence must be based primarily on typology and
etat physique. When examined, however, in the light of the geological evidence
from our own investigations, the majority of these surface collections can beplaced in their right context and provide valuable corroborative material par-
ticularly as to cultural distribution.
It is evident that the earliest material from the Somali plateau includes the
hand-axes and associated tools collected by Seton-Karr from the Issutugan, by
Trevor &McInnes from Sheik, and by Glover from Hargeisa, and is comparable
to the Acheulio-Levalloisian from Hargeisa and the Kenya (or Abyssinian)
Fauresmith from Gondar. The absence of Lower Palaeolithic implements from
southern and central Somalia is perhaps worthy of note. This negative evidencecannot as yet be taken to imply that the Acheulio-Levalloisian did not stretch
1 Clark, J. D. (194sa). 2 Clark, J. D. (194Sb).3 Graziosi, P. (1938).
4 Blanc, A. C. (1938), describes a series of finds from Moggio, sent to him by an Italian soldier.
Specimens include' points and scrapers of Mousterian type and also Upper Palaeolithic and Meso-
lithic implements such as gravette blades and crescents'. Blanc has classified them as Stillbay,
Magosian and Wilton.
In 1938 a member of the Dainelli Expedition found a greatly weathered biface at Gondar. In the
same year Professor A. Fantoli informed Graziosi that he ha
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(6) JIGJIGA
This town is situated in the Marar plain below the Marda pass through which
runs the main line of communication between Harar and the east. The hills
bounding the Marar plain on the west are composed of faulted and folded
limestones and sandstones with ls;>calvolcanic intrusions. On the slopes of thesehills and also on the surface of the flat grass-covered plain at Jigjiga itself
diminutive faceted flakes, discoidal prepared cores and subtriangular unifaced
points can be picked up. They show varying degrees of patination from light
brown to mottled colouring and are usually weathered due to surface exposure.
On a typological basis they compare favourably with the Magosian industries
further to the south and east. While, however, the resolved' stone' retouch is
clearly seen, the finer tools associated with the Magosian do not seem to occur
but their absence may in fact be explained by the nature of the site itself. Thereis a certain resemblance to the 'pseudo-Still bay' from the Kinangop beds in
the Kenya Rift valley, but the superficial nature of the brown alluvium from
which these tools appear to be derived does not substantiate a date as early for
the Jigjiga artifacts.
SUMMARY
Correlating the evidence from north-western Somaliland, therefore, the fol-
lowing sequence of events and deposits is broadly established:
(I) Deposition over a long period of time of plateau pebble beds, which
antedate the present drainage system. Previous to this period, faulting in
the Gulf of Aden Rift trend had already taken place.
(2) A major erosional cycle and the cutting of deeply incised valleys possibly
accompanied by earth movement and tilting.
(3) The aggradation of marly pebble beds and breccias, capped by a thick
deposit of surface limestone within the valleys, the' Malas '.
(4) Erosion of an extensive nature to below present tug bed level followedby the deposition of one, sometimes two, torrent-bedded gravels and grey-
brown alluvium (the Older Gravels) containing Acheulio-Levalloisian
implements; these deposits were calcified during a semi-arid to arid phase.
(5) Renewed erosion followed by the deposition of gravels and red alluvium
(the Younger Gravels) containing Developed Levalloisian tools in the lower
levels and Somaliland Stillbay artifacts at the top of the upper red alluvium,
which is overlain by some aeolian sand.
(6) A minor phase of erosion and deposition of a coarse low-level graveland alluvium.
(7) Existing minor erosional phase.
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THE PREHISTORY OF THE SPECIAL AREAS
a unifaced, lanceolate point, straight and curved backed microliths some with
basal retouch on the opposite edge, small round and end-scrapers, miniature
disc cores and one well-made subtriangular specimen, gouge-burins, outils
ecailles, flakes with faceted (13 specimens) and plain platforms (270 specimens),
microblades and blade cores (circular, multi-platformed and bipolar).
With the exception of the lanceolate point the assemblage might be considered
to be typical of the Somaliland Magosian, but its stratigraphical position-in the
red aeolian "Sand which, at Jesomma and in the Bur EibejBur Hakaba area,
overlies the deposit containing the pure Magosian Culture-indicates that we
are more probably dealing with an industry which has retained its ancestral
character to a greater degree than the other transitional industries with which
it is considered to be approximately contemporary.
THE HARGEISAN CULTURE AND
DERIVATIVE INDUSTRIES
Stratigraphically overlying the Lower, but perhaps in part contemporary with
the Upper Somaliland Stillbay at Hargeisa, Mandera, and Borama, occur
industries which exhibit clear 'neanthropic '-blade and burin-affinities, but
which also include certain elements which are presumably derived from theMagosio jStillbay complex. These latter elements-occasional disc cores and
rare Magosian-type points-distinguish these industries from the other blade
and burin cultures of Africa-from the Kenya Aurignacian, or Capsian, and
from the true Tunisian Capsian. These Somaliland industries clearly represent
a local and probably hybrid form and it has been thought necessary for this
reason to raise them to cultural status under the term Hargeisan Culture, after
the site where characteristic flaking floors were first found in situ.
Sites of this culture have not yet been identified for certain outside theboundaries of British Somaliland and the Mijertein, that is to say they are
confined to the northern part of the plateau and to the Gulf of Aden Rift (see
Distribution Map, Text-fig. 21). It is likely, however, that they will be found
to occur in the western Ogaden and in the Galla provinces of the high plateau
as these industries are certainly not of autochthonous origin and are presumed
to have entered the northern plateau country from the Harar region, and indeed
analogous industries are known to exist on the northern parts of the Abyssinian
high plateau.At first glance it would seem that these northern Somaliland industries
are but a local form of the Magosian, but a detailed study shows that in the
2I8
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ADDITIONAL SITES
A complete list of sites will be found in Appendix E, but the more important
may be noted here. They include the Berbera rock-shelter, the lower Nogal
sites at Eil, the eastern British Somaliland sites found by Gilliland, the painted
rock-shelter sites of Gerbakele and Dukokolol-yero, found by Glover on the
northern plateau, the Danakil Rift sites of Lago Oda, Porc Epic and Aisha,
and the painted rock-shelter of Errer Kimiet I found by Bjorn von Rosen in
the region of Kondoddo on the Rarar plateau.l
Satisfactory corroborative evidence for the Gumbur Todoballa sequence is
provided by the two rock-shelters in the barrier hills on the Burao road some
12 and 13 miles respectively from Berbera. Both shelters are developed in
Eocene limestone. The first is situated some 50 ft. up in the cliff on the right-
hand side of the entrance to the pass through the barrier hills. It is a small
rock-shelter some 20 ft. wide across the drip-line and 15 ft. deep. The roof is
some 10 ft. above the floor at the drip-line and slopes gradually to meet the
floor at the back of the shelter. A small trial trench was dug in this cave just
inside the entrance, and the following sequence obtained, from the surface
downwards:
(i) A bed of scalings from the roof, some 4 ft. thick at the back of the
shelter, thinning out gradually towards the entrance, where it was found
to be a foot or more thick.(ii) A sandy deposit with numerous roof scalings, containing occupation
material of Somaliland Wilton type. This bed was approximately 6-8 in.
thick.
(iii) A further deposit of rock scalings retained at the entrance by rocks
which had fallen from the roof of the shelter. This bed was thickest
apparently at the entrance where it is some 2 ft. thick.
The cultural material from layer (ii) included two bec-de-fiute burins, three
end-scrapers on short and long blades, one straight-backed microlith, one
curved-backed microlith, twenty-eight blades of which approximately half show
evidence of utilization, five small primary flakes, one redirecting flake, one small
bipolar core, two fragments of ostrich egg-shell and one fragment of mollusc
shell. The stone tools are all in chert and are unpatinated as is the case with the
material from Gumbur Todoballa.
The second shelter was at ground-level, approximately Imile further on and
on the left of the road. The floor sloped downwards so that the surface of the
1Van Rosen, B. (1949, pp. 382-4).
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THE PREHISTORY OF THE SPECIAL AREAS
(vi) Twenty human figures are represented. The figures illustrated (Breuil
(1934), Fig. 2) are drawn in profile. Steatopygia is shown, and one figure
wears a skirt.l
(vii) The fauna represented is apparently all wild (i.e. elephant, lion, jackal,
antelope, buffalo, bubalis?, stag?, and ostrich ?), there being no domesti-cated species.
It is reasonable to suppose that the only colour here was red or red-brown,
and that the earliest paintings would have faded to yellow.
Text-fig. 34. Herdsmen and cattle, Genda-Biftou, Sourre.
Breuil, H. (1934). 'Peintures rupestres prehistoriques du Harrar (Abyssinie).'
Fig. 7. L'Anthropologie, Paris, vol. XLIV, nos. 5-6, pp. 473-83.
GENDA-BIFTOU (Text-fig. 34)
(i) Rock-limestone.
(ii) Sparse and indeterminate occupational material in the vicinity.
(iii) The paintings have been preserved only where protected by the over-
hang of the rock.
(iv) Two main series are found, an earlier naturalistic series comprising
Breuil's styles 1-5 and style 7 and a later schematic series comprising his
styles 6 and 8.
(v) The earliest paintings are in yellow, and are followed by those in black,
pale red, red-brown (most numerous and subdivided by Breuil into styles4aand 4b ) , yellow, red and black in that order.
1 Steatopygia is common in mature Somali women, especially among the true pastoral tribes.
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THE PREHISTORY OF THE SPECIAL AREAS
(V ) The characteristics of style noted at Genda-Biftou are also present at
Lago Oda.
(vi) Such human figures as can be seen in the photographs belong to the
schematic paintings and are shown either full face-with a shield, or side
face-with bow and arrow.
A second group of painted shelters exists in the Mount Kondoddo area, close
to and north of Harar. They have been copied and photographed by Count Bjorn
von Rosen to whom Iam much indebted for his description of the sites and for
permission to reproduce six of his photographs.l
Von Rosen found three sites. The first of these was at Saka Sharifa, a high
ridge or scarp not far from Kondoddo mountain.
SAKA SHARIFA
The shelter was a large one situated immediately below the crest of this ridge
facing south and commanding a magnificent view of the surrounding country.
The country rock is probably granite (as it probably is for all these Harar sites)
and the paintings are usually on the protected sloping back walls of subaerially
weathered masses of rock such as are commonly found in granite country.
At Saka Sharifa the painted surface is some 4 x 3 m. in area in the centre of
the wall, well protected against weathering. The paintings are all executed ina reddish to dark brown pigment and vary in length from a centimetre to half
a metre. Both outline and flat-wash paintings occur. They consist of:
(I) Heavily built and long-horned hump less bovids-either buffalo or
domestic cattle, most probably the latter are intended. The complete body
is filled in with colour. Rather poorly drawn in comparison with those
from Genda- Biftou and Lago Oda, they approximate more to the Porc Epic
paintings. (See PI. 50, no. 1.)
(2) A few human figures with the arms outstretched, flat-washed. (See
PI. 50, no. 2.) The attitude of these figures suggests a characteristic stance
of Somali and Galla herdsmen today, the arms resting over a stick or spear
lying across the shoulders.
(3) Possibly a hunting scene in which a hunter aims with his bow at an
ostrich. (See PI. 5I, no. 1.)
(4) Low down near the floor was a good naturalistic drawing of a jackal
again in flat-wash.
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THE PREHISTORY OF THE SPECIAL AREAS
(4) Kidney- or heart-shaped designs.
(5) What is considered by von Rosen to be a naturalistic painting of
a butterfly.
These paintings do not as yet bear comparison with any of the other groups
in the Horn. Near this shelter was found an occupation deposit from which
von Rosen recovered two worked flakes.
ERRER KIMIET
The third painted area was again found to be situated near the crest of
a mountain ridge, this time at the mountain of Errer Kimiet south of Kondoddo.
Here von Rosen found two rock-shelters some hundreds of metres apart. He
has named them Errer Kimiet I and Errer Kimiet II. The first of these is visible
from a distance and is found just below the top of the ridge and commanding
a clear view towards Kondoddo.
ERRER KIMIET 1. Superposition and three styles and colours exist here:
(1) The latest (presumably) is in thick white paint which has been carelessly
and unevenly smeared on the rock. These consist of single paintings-
a cross and an outline drawing of what may be a stylized human with
an hour-glass body can be seen from von Rosen's photographs. These
overlie paintings of the third and earliest series.
(2) Paintings in black' like writing on a notice board' on a small area of
rock face in a protected niche or recess. These are said to be better drawn
than those of series (1) but no further details are given.
(3) The most numerous series are flat-wash paintings in red-brown pig-
ment as at Saka Sharifa. Represented are filiform humans and human
figures with circles in outline on or just over the head. (PI. 51, no. 2.)
These may represent a headdress or bundle and are reminiscent of some
of the Sahara paintings, particularly those of the Haggar region.l At thewestern end of the shelter is a group of long-horned and hump less cattle
behind a large leader. These paintings with their sometimes angular profile
and' saddle' backs are the nearest that have been recorded to the Genda-
Biftou group but are not so well drawn. (PI. 52, no. 1.)
Also on the rock wall facing south is a row of rather systemless wavy lines.
ERRER KIMIET II. The second and more westerly shelter lies in a ravine, some-
what difficult of access, on the slope of the mountain facing south. The paintings
are here all drawn in a white paint which is nevertheless of some antiquity as
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THE PREHISTORY OF THE SPECIAL AREAS
it has become absorbed into the rock in the same way as have the red paintings
of Saka Sharifa and Bake Khallo; von Rosen, therefore, considers these white
paintings to be earlier than the white series at Errer Kimiet I.
One-half of the painted surface has been badly weathered and has largely
flaked away. Von Rosen found here some of the largest figures that occurred
in this Harar group of sites. Most of these represent domestic cattle with large
spreading horns. Also depicted is what the discoverer calls a running lion or
an old male baboon, but it could also, and 1 think more probably, represent
a cheetah, these animals being commonly met with in the Horn. Another
painting, one of the largest, von Rosen considers probably represents a hori-
zontally lying human being with the arms outstretched. Between these flat-wash
paintings is a row of outline drawings which can most probably be interpreted as
stylized representations of warriors with shields and spears or bows. (See
PI. 52, no. 2.) They can be compared with similar capital H paintings found
at Genda-Biftou.
Both these sites were occupied and from the eastern one (Errer Kimiet I)
von Rosen recovered a microlithic factory debris and typical crescents and
straight-backed bladelets of Somaliland Wilton form which he illustrates.
A third group of paintings is found in small shelters in the Gan Libah range
on the edge of the Gulf of Aden fault-scarp, in British Somaliland. These have
been described by Burkitt &Glover.l They are all of a stylized, semi-schematic
nature, and the salient points from each shelter have been summarized below.
TUG GERBAKELE SHELTERS (9 53' N., 44 54' 30" E.)
(i) Rock-limestone.
(ii) Typical Somaliland Wilton artifacts were recovered from the scree
of no. 3 shelter.
(iii) The earliest paintings are in black, and are covered by irregular,
horizontal and perpendicular scratches. Over these are rock engravings
of animals (cattle or camels), executed by a pecking technique. Over the
engravings are red paintings of animals, the marks of fingers and schematic
motifs. The most recent are probably two schematic paintings in white.
(iv) The animals depicted are said to represent elephants, giraffe, lion,
kudu, oryx, and probably cattle.
rUG KHABOBA SHELTER (9 52' 40" N., 44 49' 40" E.)
(i) Rock-limestone.
(ii) No evidence of occupation recovered.
1Burkitt, M. C. &Glover, P. E. (1946).
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A TENTATIVE CORRELATION OF CUL TURES AND CLIMATES
specimens are of two ages. The later series shows a glossy patina and includes
long blades and flake blades with subtrapezoid section, little or no retouch, but
evidence of utilization on the edges. The material is ascribed by d'Errico to the
Neolithic; it is reminiscent of the Elmenteitan of Kenya. The earlier specimens
comprise red-patinated flakes one of which has been worked into a crude uni-
faced point. It is not clear whether the striking-platforms are faceted or not; this
assemblage is presumably of Stillbay or earlier affinities. Moysey's collections
have added considerably to our knowledge of this area. Amba Alagi yielded
Developed Levalloisian or Stillbay material, and his excavation of a rock-shelter
at Gorgora has provided most important evidence of the apparently long develop-
ment of a Still bay industry on the northern plateau.! The developed nature of
this later Still bay with its triangular, bifaced points, and high degree of secondary
retouch is of particular interest.
South-east of the Abyssinian Rift, Teilhard 2 and Breuil3 found Levalloisian
material in the alluvial deposits of the Errer valley, and on the plateau near
Harar. Blanc4 records Stillbay artifacts from Moggio.
The evidence suggests, therefore, that the cultural sequence on the high
plateau for the greater part of the Upper Pleistocene followed that in the
Somalilands and Kenya, the Acheulio- Levalloisian or Fauresmith giving place
in turn to the Levalloisian and a local form of the Stillbay.
A greater number of Late Stone Age sites exist. Although the majority are
surface collections they suggest that two distinct cultural elements are present.
The Still bay is the ancestral form of the one, and develops by way of a
Magosian into a local Mesolithic or Neolithic Culture of Wilton form. The
origin of the other, which approximates more nearly to the Elmenteitan and its
derivative cultures than to any other East African culture, is unknown, though
it may be found to have had a similar origin with the Elmenteitan in an ancestral
, Capsian ' form. Besides the excavations at Porc Epic and Gorgora the Magosian
is known from surface collections made by Moysey at Batie near Dessie,
Wadelai Delanta and Bethor (?) between Debra Tabor and Dessie; and the
Mille river crossing on the road to Assab. What is thought to be its final
development, into a pottery-using microlithic culture, is seen in the uppermost
levels at Gorgora and Porc Epic and again at Yavello.5 At the last two sites it
may perhaps be associated with conventionalized paintings. The distribution of
this, or an allied culture is extended into the Galla highlands and into the Arba,
Awash and Shoa valleys by the du Bourg de Bozas collections; on to the Harar
1 Moysey, F. (1943). Leakey, L. S. B. (1943). 2 Teilhard de Chardin, P. (1930).3 Information received verbally from the Abbe Breuil.
4 Blanc, A. C. (1938). 5 Clark, J. D. (194Sb).
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Fig. 1. Flat-wash painting of large-horned domestic ox (? Bas africanus) in reddish
brown paint. From Saka Sharifa, Harar. Reproduced by permission of Count Bjorn
von Rosen.
Fig. 2. Flat-wash human figure and outline drawings of (?) cattle, one with branding
mark on the rump, in reddish brown paint. From Saka Sharifa, Harar. Reproduced
by permission of Count Bjorn yon Rosen.
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Fig. I. Probably a representation of a hunter shooting an ostrich; in reddish brown
paint. From Saka Sharifa, Harar. Reproduced by permission of Count Bjorn von
Rosen.
Fig. 2. Human figure in reddish brown paint with circular headdress or bundle,
overlain by painting in white pigment. From Errer Kimiet I,Harar. Reproduced
by permission of Count llj6rn von Rosen.
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Fig. I. Domestic cattle scene in reddish brown pigment. Note angular profile and
saddle-backs of some of the animals. From Errer Kimiet I, Rarar. Reproduced by
permission of Count Bjorn von Rosen.
Fig. 2. White paintings of a (?) cheetah, ox and stylized human figures in the form
of a capital H. From Errer Kimiet II, Rarar. Reproduced by permission of
Count Bjorn von Rosen.